Teachers Service Commission: No new scheme of service yet

TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni (right) and Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association Chairman Joseph Karuga chat during the closing of the 9th Primary School Heads Annual Conference in Mombasa Thursday.[Photo: Omondi Onyango/Standard]

By Augustine Oduor

Mombasa, Kenya: The Teachers Service Commission has ruled out a separate scheme of service for head teachers.

Teachers who completed the executive diploma courses at the Kenya Education Management Institute (Kemi) had been lobbying for a separate scheme of service.

TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni also maintained that the entry grade to university for persons wishing to train as teachers must be a C+.

Lengoiboni said as a move to enhance quality, the P2 grade for teachers has already been scrapped and teachers elevated to P1.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers’ (Kuppet) officials however said they are moving to court to contest the decision to raise university entry requirement for teachers.

Discriminative policy

Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori said he will take the Ministry of Education, TSC and the universities to court next week for implementing a discriminative policy.

He also faulted TSC’s role in setting the entry marks for colleges. “What is the work for Commission for University Education if TSC assumes such a role?” he posed.  He added: “The papers are ready and we must stop this by all means. Some of us scored a C and joined colleges with that grade. But we are not lesser teachers.”

Addressing the primary school head teachers meeting for their annual conference yesterday, Misori said most of them have undertaken professional courses at Kemi and asked their employer to recognise their papers.

Kenya Primary School Heads Association National Chairman Joseph Karuga said over 23,000 teachers have already undergone training at Kemi, adding that the TSC should elevate them to another scheme of service.

“These teachers should now be moved from the non-graduate scheme to the new scheme because they have completed their executive diplomas,” he said. Lengoiboni said Kemi training equips trainees with leadership skills and does not cover enough content to warrant recognition.

“C+ will remain the entry grade and in future we shall use the Kemi training as one of the modules,” said Mr Lengoiboni.

The TSC boss said promotion of teachers will continue to be based on the existing three schemes of service.

Lengoiboni said all TSC employees must, for now, fall into the graduates, non-graduates or technical scheme of service, and noted that preparation of a new scheme of service must involve all the stakeholders.

“This is something that must be negotiated and it requires many partners. The consultative committee on terms of service is the forum where such matters are discussed,” he said.

He said the ministry of education, The National Treasury, Office of the President and teachers unions are the key partners that must be involved in the process .He, however, noted that all schemes of service will be revised alongside TSC policies.